Asus Eee PC 1215B

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Asus Eee PC 1215B laptop. If you have the Asus Eee PC 1215B and are running Linux on it please consider editing this page or adding a comment below with your compatibility details. By contributing you will help other people running this laptop or trying to make a decision on whether to buy it or not.

This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Asus Eee PC 1215B. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Asus Eee PC 1215B page on LapWik.

Asus EEEPC 1215B on Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneric Ocelot"

This part aims to describe the steps needed, to fully enable all features of the 1215B when using Ubuntu 11.10, “Oneric Ocelot” (released in autumn 2011).

Preface

Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneric Ocelot” supports all hardware components of this netbook. 3D-Desktop acceleration starts automatically. Sound is fully supported. WLAN support works right away. In the system menu, scrolling with the touchpad easily can be configured. Due to the dual core processor, Ubuntu runs with excellent performance on this netbook. Watching movies in HD for example is not a problem. Browsing files on a device connected via bluetooth works reliable. The battery will not last for the claimed eight hours. Depending on the system load, the battery life time is something around five hours.

Basic Installation Instructions

'Warning!' Before you install Ubuntu on the 1215B, backup all your data. During the installation procedure, parts of your hard drive will be formated and you will most likely change the size of existing partitions. If something goes wrong during these very critical operations, all your data may be lost! So backup all your data! Keep in mind, that the installation disks of the original operating system of the laptop are ONLY stored as images on the hard drive. So please, make sure you have backed up all your data before you proceed!

It is recommended to keep a Windows installation on the netbook. It is at least needed for BIOS updates.

* Get the installation image from Get Ubuntu. The 1215B are 64 bit processors and you should use the 64 bit Ubuntu as it works significantly faster. Once the .iso file is downloaded, create a bootable USB pen drive either directly on windows (download the USB pendrive application) or on an existing Ubuntu 11.04 computer (create a bootable USB pendrive with the USB-startup-creator tool in the Ubuntu menu under “System” > “Administration”)
* Plug the USB stick into the netbook, restart the computer and enter the BIOS by pressing and maintaining “Escape” when the computer starts. A screen appears to select the boot device, make sure you select the USB stick and first partition ubuntu (trying it, obviously).
During the installation process you need to manually partition the disk (do not select “install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7” it will shut down the installation process. Choose the “something else” instead). The preloaded partition comes :
/dev/sda1 ntfs 107374 MB (Windows principal partition)
/dev/sda2 fat32 16106 MB (Windows recovery environment)
/dev/sda3 ntfs 196574 MB (data partition)
/dev/sda4 none 16 MB (unknown)

Then Install Ubuntu on you laptop.
Grub, the application that enables users to choose which operating system chose, does not work at the first time. There is a way around :

Boot the LiveCD Desktop.

Open a terminal by selecting Applications, Accessories, Terminal from the menu bar.

Determine the partition with the Ubuntu installation. The fdisk option ”-l“ is a lowercase “L”. sudo fdisk -l If the user isn't sure of the partition, look for one of the appropriate size or formatting. Running sudo blkid may provide more information to help locate the proper partition, especially if the partitions are labeled. The device/drive is designated by sdX, with X being the device designation. sda is the first device, sdb is the second, etc. For most users the MBR will be installed to sda, the first drive on their system. The partition is designated by the Y. The first partition is 1, the second is 2. Note the devices and partitions are counted differently.

Mount the partition containing the Ubuntu installation. sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt Example: sudo mount /dev/sda1 Note: If the user has a separate /boot partition, this must be mounted to /mnt/boot Note: If the user has a separate /home partition, this must be mounted to /mnt/home. Encrypted home partitions should work.

Run the grub-install command as described below. This will reinstall the GRUB 2 files on the mounted partition to the proper location and to the MBR of the designated device. sudo grub-install –root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdX Example: sudo grub-install –root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

In Grub 1.99, introduced with Ubuntu 11.04, Natty Narwhal, a new switch is available which more clearly defines where the grub folder is placed. The command above will still work with Grub 1.99, but the following command is preferred by the developers. The target directory in the command is the command into which the grub folder will be installed. By default, and without the switch, the location is /boot/grub. In these instructions, since the Ubuntu partition is mounted on /mnt, the target would be /mnt/boot/grub.

sudo grub-install –boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdX
Example: sudo grub-install –boot-directory=/mnt/boot/ /dev/sda
Reboot and it should work. You should now have Ubuntu working

Then Ubuntu should ask you to activate the ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (post-release updates). The driver is required to fully utilize the 3D potential of the graphic cards.

Post installation tune-up

* Google Chromium navigator. You can find in the “Ubuntu Software center” : Go to the left of the screen with the mouse and click on the filled paper bag icon. It can also be downloaded at http://www.google.com/chrome check for the 64 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu). Download it and open the self installer.

These are the common additional software install that can't be installed throught the “Ubuntu Software Center”

* Skype. You can also find it in the “Ubuntu Software center” and search for Skype. It will ask you to add the “Natty-Partner Source”. Just accept. You can alternatively check http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/ and ask for the Ubuntu + 64-bit version.

These are other common install you can get directly from the Ubuntu Software center:
* Microsoft fonts To install Microsoft fonts like (Arial, Times New Roman). Search for “ttf-mscorefonts-installer” in the Ubuntu Software center To install Wingdings and other fonts, download the font file (wingding.ttf) here: http://cid-a69c4d1ba0c53559.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/WinExperience/Fontes/WINGDING.TTF . Copy the font file to ~/.fonts and refresh the font cache by typing in a terminal

sudo fc-cache -fv

* Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons (copyright, license, patent, etc). Follow the instructions here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
* Google Earth (needs medibuntu)
* WiFi Radar (Tool to scan neighboring WiFi signal), Wavemon to measure the intensity of wifi signal so to adjust the position of your laptop in increase reception (don't forget this is a terminal application, you have to add a launcher for it) EtherApe (Graphical Network monitor that shows you who you computer is talking with), Umit Network scanner, Zenmap to check what ports are open in your network, Wireshark to see what is going on on your network.
* Sync-ui is a sync application to synchronise all your agenda and contacts with an external server (needs medibuntu) Search for sync-ui in the Ubuntu Software center and Sync will appear. Install it and run it. It will first ask fo a slow sync
* Audacity An excellent piece of software that permits to edit sound and music files.
* Other interesting programs include GnuCash, Openshot video editor and Team Viewer (not in the “Ubuntu Software Center”),

Automatic logon unlock

After the netbook has been in powersave mode, you will allways be asked to logon. If you don't want this:

The command radeon_audio=1 allows also to use audio on the HDMI output (which also works well)

For a working configuraition with suspend to disk enough (same size as ram) swap space has to be configured on the swap partition and this space has to be assigned with: resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/your-own-uuid-from (see blkid command)

Dietmar

Randy, 2015/02/26 12:52

THANKS FOR THE POST

Paulodil, 2013/10/19 15:05

I have this machine since two years. After having the wifi not work in 13.04 I downgraded to 12.10 and when my HDD crashed 5 days ago I installed a 64GB SSD in that machine and installed standard 13.10 and oh boy, for the first time in ever I am satisfied with this laptop.

Before I ran Ubuntu on Gnome 3.x and had so much trouble with speed, crashes, hangs etc. It would sometimes just hang for minutes with the hard drive working and working and apport or something collecting information. Also, it would heat up so much that the fan would constantly run at highest rpm.

Now after the clean install of 13.10, running unity, having installed the proprietary ATI graphics driver, TLP (power saving daemon) and the SSD, the machine runs like a charm. Out of the 2 year old battery I am getting 6 hours of office work battery life with wifi on and screen brightness at lowest. The temperature hardly goes over 65, so the fan is either very silently spinning or completely off. Still having suspend issues, but with boot times of a few seconds only thanks to the SSD, I really don't care too much. Depending on how the laptop does in the near future, I might upgrade it with a bigger battery pack soon and go with it for another year or two.

PGJ, 2013/10/30 21:18

Do you have a link to proprietary graphics driver?

faabio, 2013/03/15 13:24

In Ubuntu 12.04 I have been now using the lowlatency kernel 3.2. The whole pc is much “smoother” to use and sounds play very well. Only drawback is that Unigine 3.0 basic test drops from normal 3.2 kernel 219 points to 141 with lowlatency kernel. Althought with lowlatency kernel the sound doesn't stutter. Maybe with different distro things would be better like with Xubuntu?

frazzmark, 2012/11/17 08:32

Ubuntu 12.04: hotkeys work out of the box; the microphone works with skype and after install the proprietary drivers i can watch 1080p movies on my TV with HDMI.

Rykel Lim, 2012/10/02 05:22

Cannot get SUSPEND to work consistently right with both open source and proprietary drivers. Microphone does NOT work well with Skype for Linux 4.0.0.8. (static interference)

yuliawan, 2012/07/02 16:16

my sound have not work in my PC!! WHY ??

syeo, 2012/06/19 03:44

how to return your OS to win7. im trying to format but its does not work.help pls

Orkekum, 2012/06/05 16:04

Installed ubuntu on mine yesterday.

AS said, the button for Wifi on/off does not work, and neither the button next to it for high/power saving mode.

but the Fn(blue ones) work, touchpad lock, volume and screen brightness works for me.

Does what i use to do on that laptop, chat and browse the web.

Rykel Lim, 2012/05/19 19:50

Hi, pardon me for asking despite the recommendation in the article… but can I install Ubuntu “alongside” Windows WITHOUT manual partitioning? (ie. let the Ubuntu installer partition automatically) Because I do NOT understand what the “UEFI” partitions mean and I wonder if Ubuntu installer is smart enough to recognise and then install into the correct partitions? Thanks for your advice!

I also tried SMPlayer, but it didn't have the GPU acceleration enabled even though the videos played quite smooth. There were only two settings which needed to be changed in the performance tab. Uncheck “Allow frame drop” and set “Threads for decoding…” to 2.

About the hotkeys, in ubuntu you can assign own keyboard shortcuts for the “special” keys. It also recognized the “Super Hybrid Engine” key. You only need some power management program to switch the profiles by using that button or use it for other purposes.

Hello,unfortunately my installation doesnt work at all. Everytime the installation copies data to the hardisk it crashes completely and says I/O Error No. 5. It recommends to clean the DVD. This happens when I install from USB-Stick (tried two different ones) and from external DVD. It happens with Ubuntu 11.04 and Debian 6.4. An old Ubuntu 9.10 works fine (but has not the drivers for ethernet and others).

Martin Barry, 2012/03/01 13:23

Try with Ubuntu 11.10, I succesfully installed that release yesterday.

pccunny, 2012/01/23 07:07

Standard 1015B spec - E450 processor.

Ubuntu 11.10 installs without any major problems - love the machine. But I have an external WD 2TB HDD and i have noticed the the USB 2 and 3 speeds are about the same - 5-8 MB/sec and sometimes down 3MB/sec. I have checked the drive - anybody any ideas why the the terrible slow speeds?

Another issue is that bluetooth(default and Blueman manager installed) has problems connecting to by phone for Dial Up Networking ( tried 2 phones) - always get the Error 13 permission denied when trying to connect.

Appreciate any suggestions

NaOH, 2011/11/27 23:54

First time, installed ubuntu 11.04 on my eee pc 1215b C-50 processor. Ubuntu recognized 4 (2×2) Gb RAM that win7 starter could not use, as this system locks RAM to up 2 Gb.

Everything worked very well. Ubuntu could easily run windows programs (using wine) that previously failed to run on Win7 environment, as Exact Audio Copy and FLAC converter. Also Origin 6 for graphic and data manipulation. Printing was almost set automatically by default. Even some blocked printers on windows network could be used. The only drawback was long time to burn DVD's using an external drive: it took about 1 hr at (supposedly) 16x speed, using the default Brasero app (!)

Update to 11.10 and there arised some problems on the beginning, as freezing, double icons, strange printing management, Ubuntu 2D set by default on startup, etc. Subsequent upgrades corrected these bugs.

Sound: Works: Need to change settings on alsamixer to get speakers/headphone jack and mic workingGraphics: Works: The default 2.6.32 squeeze kernel requires radeon.modeset=0 at the end of kernel line to boot properly. The resolution never maxes out 1024×768. Proper 1366×768 resolution and graphic acceleration is achieved after installing 2.6.39 kernel from backports repo and proprietary catalyst drivers from amd website.Webcam: Works: Works out of box.CPU: Works: Works out of box. Detects both the cores and steps up/down as per the load.Network: Works: Atheros LAN card works well on 2.6.39 kernel. Broadcom 4313 WLAN card works well after installing firmware-brcm80211 from non-free repo.Bluetooth: Works: Works out of the box. With gnome-sharing transferring files over bluetooth is absolutely painless.Hotkeys: Don't work: Don't work even after installing eeepc-acpi-scripts and adding acpi_osi=Linux to the kernel boot line. Eeepc-wmi may resolve this issue but it's not available yet for Debian Squeeze.

And it works fine. Since ubuntu is based on Debian core, Jupiter shall work as well on any other debian based distrib.
I will confirm that on Handylinux next week on my mother's eeepc 1215b.

Thomas, 2014/05/04 21:29

Handylinux has been running for weeks now, and very well. Some Fn do work fine like mute, or screen +/-, wirless on/off.
I installed pulseaudio because no sound could be heard.
Better distri than lubuntu, because already packed with software (like teamviewer, useful to remotely help my mother!).
So actually my mother made the install herself using a USB key (I performed the same operation remotely to follow the steps), and really she is a “pain in the ass” when it comes to use computers..!
So desipte the sound issue, Handylinux worked fine out of the box with 1215b The processor is only a C-30, I am able to view JVC HD video using mplayer.
I also installed kdenlive in order to display .MOD JVC video files thumbnails.
But I could not install powersaving jupiter for the moment.

Scifi, 2011/10/12 09:00

64bit Arch.Thanks for the tip on disabling c6 state! it at least partially solved my blank screen on suspend issues.

Other issues with this laptop on Arch, wireless drivers seem to stop working if you force the regulation domain to somewhere else than US (meaning that you will be missing some higher wifi channels)

Display drivers are also a bit bad with external monitors, and accelerated 1080p decompression seems to have lots of artifacts (when/if you get it actually working).

Maccgyver, 2011/10/02 09:50

Asus eee pc 1215b everthing works on pclinuxos 2011

manmath sahu, 2011/09/30 06:36

graphics does work, but the performance is very poor in the default gallium driver or mesa. you've to install proprietary catalyst drivers for decent performance. even the catalyst driver for linux does lag little behind the windows.

Peter, 2011/09/01 08:08

Installed ubuntu 11.04 natty on it, got sometimes freezes when trying to shutdown, suspend or reboot, suspend began to work, when I turned off c6 mode in bios.

Also had some problems with wi-fi and proprietary drivers, installed free version and it works fine.

ldvhome, 2011/08/17 12:32

fedora 15: there is wi-fi on the website of the manufacturer of the card drivers for linux there is. Managed to install Ubuntu 11.10 Alfa 2: wi-fi internet access is available. Ubuntu 11.10 Alfa 3: install failed. Could you give a link to the driver wi-fi card.

I beg forgiveness for my English.

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